N Ireland parties seek to outlaw private abortion clinics

Guardian News and Media/London

A prominent member of the Labour’s sister party in Northern Ireland will try next week to outlaw women accessing non-medical abortions from private companies.

The SDLP’s Alban Maginness has joined forces with Democratic Unionist Paul Girvan to push for legislation in the Northern Ireland assembly on Tuesday that would make abortions outside of the NHS illegal in the province.

Pro-choice and women’s groups have condemned the move accusing both politicians of “hypocrisy” given that Northern Irish women in crisis pregnancies can already access abortion pills on the internet or else have a medical termination in England.

In a direct attack on the recently opened Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast, Maginness claimed it was “dangerous that any organisation should receive financial reward from carrying out abortions especially where there are such distinct legal parameters governing the matter.”

The SDLP assembly member for north Belfast added: “A financial reward for carrying out an abortion is incompatible with the spirit of our legal framework, which governs abortions. The National Health Service provides the highest level of care available to patients in respect of maternal obstetric services. Indeed, within the NHS, when considering an abortion the welfare of both mother and child will be the primary concern rather than profit margins. Financial considerations play no role in the decision-making process.

“Abortion is an issue that has great public health implications and should be subject to the highest level of scrutiny and transparency. This is best facilitated within the National Health Service. Our amendment secures this objective and provides an assurance to the public that compliance with the criminal law on abortion in Northern Ireland is paramount.”

Maginnes’s amendment to the criminal justice bill in Northern Ireland also has the support of the Ulster Unionist justice spokesman Tom Elliott.

It will be debated in Stormont on Tuesday with Sinn Fin indicating it will vote against the amendment.

The largest party in the Assembly, the DUP is likely to back the Maginness-Girvan amendment while the centrist Alliance party told the Guardian it will allow its members to vote on an individual basis according to their conscience.

The SDLP and the DUP combined have 52 out of the 108 seats in the assembly. This means they would only need three more votes for the motion to be passed. If their proposal becomes law it could mean the closure of the only private clinic to offer non-medical, non-surgical abortions operating in Northern Ireland.

This would happen after the legislation goes through several stages from the devolved parliament to the attorney general, John Larkin QC, who is a vocal opponent of abortion.

But the Alliance for Choice organisation described the Maginness-Girvan motion as “hypocrisy” because it pretends abortion doesn’t happen in Northern Ireland.

Although the 1967 Abortion Act and its amendments does not cover Northern Ireland, some abortions are legal in the province’s hospitals such as when a woman’s life is at risk.